Paris (AFP)
It is a pole reversal in European football: Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé attracted attention this week at the opening of the knockout stages of the Champions League, sketching a promising rivalry that has eclipsed Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, confused.
- Young hungry wolves -
While the debate rages between leaders around the format of the Champions League from 2024, on the ground, the future of the European flagship competition is all mapped out.
From outstanding performance to outstanding performance, Mbappé (22 years old) and Haaland (20 years old) redesign the landscape shaped for more than a decade by the exploits of Messi (33 years old) and Ronaldo (36 years old).
The Parisian striker became the first player to achieve a hat-trick at Camp Nou in C1 since Andreï Chevtchenko in 1997, Tuesday, during the great success of PSG against FC Barcelona (4-1).
The next day, the Norwegian from Dortmund scored twice to win on Sevilla FC (3-2).
"When I saw Mbappé score three goals yesterday (Tuesday), it motivated me. So thank you to him!", Smiled Haaland.
Speed and dribbling for one, power and long shots for the other ... Beyond the statistics, it is their style that marked the spirits.
"I believe that PSG have a future very big star, who will be at the level of Leo or Cristiano", admitted Barcelona's Antoine Griezmann about his teammate in the France team.
The "cyborg" of Borussia (1.94 m) belongs to the "best players in the world ahead", for his part assured Sevillian coach Julen Lopetegui.
Moreover, it is only one achievement to equal the record of "Kyky" (19 goals) on the number of goals scored in C1 before 21 years.
At that age, Messi had eight, and Ronaldo ... zero.
"This is the handover. It could be the next rivalry that will last ten years," said former international defender Rio Ferdinand, consultant for British channel BT Sport.
"The next generation: Mbappé and Haaland steal the show from Messi and Ronaldo in the Champions League," said Sportschau in Germany, a famous sports program on the public channel ARD.
In Spain, Internet users are tearing each other over which of the two Real Madrid should recruit, to fill the void caused by the departure of "CR7" to Juve in 2018.
"Haaland seems to be a finishing player, for pure goal, while Mbappé has more resources," tries Alfredo Relaño, columnist for the sports daily As.
- The old lions challenged -
Eleven Ballons d'Or between them, nine Champions Leagues ... Messi and Ronaldo have flown over the decade, like wild animals leaving only the crumbs to others.
But this season, they have to be content with a small piece of cake.
Their teams lost, and for the Argentinian, it would take an incredible "comeback" in the return leg at Parc des Princes on March 10 to avoid another premature elimination.
The attitude of the "Pulga", head down, silent, contrasts with the anger of "CR7", after the defeat of Juventus in Porto (2-1) on Wednesday.
In additional time, the Portuguese unsuccessfully claimed a penalty after contact with an opposing defender.
But Thursday morning, the Italian press rather retained its overall performance, failed.
"Mbappé did not motivate him, he almost seemed to want to imitate Messi. Penalty or not, there are no excuses," writes the Gazzetta dello Sport.
The sky is cloudy over the two superstars: Messi, at the end of his contract, feeds the rumors of a departure next summer, while the "Juve" of Ronaldo, in bad shape, could not win the Italian Championship for the first time since 2011.
However, individually, Messi (20 goals) and Ronaldo (23) share statistics comparable to Haaland (25) and Mbappé (21) this season.
"If you look at the performances of Messi and Ronaldo, they are still there. I heard some people asking if Mbappé could sit at their table. No, no, no ... He is an exceptional player, fantastic, but he is a young player. When he has three or four Golden Balls, we can discuss, "said Nantes coach Antoine Kombouaré.
Will the old lions be able to bite again during the eighth return, to fend off the specter of decline?
ah-pve-alu-pi-dac-fcc / jed / bde
© 2021 AFP